News
Rivaroxaban approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium
Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA) welcomes the decision by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) to approve Rivaroxaban (an anticoagulant) for use by healthcare practitioners working in NHS Scotland. AFA has been instrumental in demonstrating to the SMC how the drug will improve the quality of treatment received by eligible NHS Scotland patients suffering from non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation (AF).
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Touch Briefings: European Cardiology Volume 7.4
As part of a Media partnership with Touch Briefings, AFA members receive free eBook access to Touch Briefings ‘European Cardiology’ Volume 7 Issue 4
In this latest issue of European Cardiology – Volume 7 Issue 4 – Ali Ghodsizad and colleagues contribute an article entitled: ‘Application of CD271+ Human Bone Marrow-derived Stem Cells for Ischaemic Heart Disease Therapy’. The injection of bone marrow-derived stem cells into ischaemic myocardium during surgery has been shown to be both feasible and safe, and the authors note that this novel approach might hold promise as an alternative to medical management in patients with severe ischaemic heart failure. Read more
JACC: Dabi linked to bleeding, thromboembolic events in AF ablation patients
Cardiovascular Business
Much debate surrounds optimal medical therapy options for patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation procedures. In an observational study published online Feb. 1 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers recommended ...
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Doctors to run campaign against heart disease
Jerusalem Post
By JUDY SIEGEL 02/14/2012 03:40 By Thinkstock/Imagebank The Israel Cardiology Society has called on those who suffer from atrial fibrillation to avoid suffering a potentially fatal or disabling ischemic stroke. The organization of heart specialists ...
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Will a shock keep my dodgy ticker on track?
Daily Mail
Your condition is called atrial fibrillation, and it is the most common abnormality of heart rhythm. It occurs when the chambers of the heart don't contract in the normal rhythmic way, as the result of a fault in the natural pacemaker system.
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Entertainer Lends His Voice To Raise Awareness Of Atrial Fibrillation
North American Press Syndicate
Manilow is one of the more than 2.5 million Americans living with atrial fibrillation (AFib). AFib is a serious heart disease that causes your heart to race and beat out of rhythm. While some people with AFib may not feel symptoms, others may feel ...
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UBC researchers illuminate link between sodium, calcium and heartbeat using ...
EurekAlert (press release)
Irregular heartbeats, referred to medically as arrhythmias, can happen when these channels leak or otherwise malfunction. Professors Filip van Petegem and Christopher Ahern, members of UBC's Cardiovascular Research Group, used the CLS to determine the ...
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Heart disease number one killer in India
Assam Tribune
Hayat Hospital which last year inaugurated the Hayat Heart centre as an integral part of the hospital on Saturday started its 'Cardiac Arrhythmia Clinic' — the first cardiac arrhythmia clinic in the North-east. Electrophysiological study and radio ...
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Atrial fibrillation topic of free lecture on Feb. 28
Bridgeport News
Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery Dr. M. Clive Robinson and cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Murali Chiravuri of Bridgeport Hospital's Joel E. Smilow Heart Institute will discuss the causes of and treatments for atrial fibrillation (a-fib) during the free ...
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Results in Self-Evidence with TAO
The Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, University of Oxford published an article entitled: "Self-monitoring of oral anticoagulation: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data". For a review, read more
Economy Class Syndrome, How to Prevent It?
The economy class syndrome or travellers’ thrombosis is the onset of symptoms arising from suffering a venous thrombosis, usually in the legs.
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Research Article:Herbal Interference with Warfarin
Herbal and non-herbal supplement use is common in warfarin-treated patients and the majority of these agents impact warfarin safety and efficacy.
Atrial Fibrillation 2: assessment and diagnosis
Practice Nursing
Christine Cottrell details the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation and considers the associated causes and risk factors
Major report on AF launched by AFA
A major source of information for patients and healthcare professionals on all aspects of AF, including urgent actions needed now to prevent untreated AF from causing a stroke epidemic.
Calculate your personal risk of stroke because of AF
Cardioversion Curriculum
Learning Objectives. At the conclusion of this activity, the learner will be able to Identify appropriate anticoagulation strategies prior to and following ...
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Hidden Afib Common in Stroke of Unknown Cause
MedPage Today
This retrospective study of patients receiving telemetry within six months of a cryptogenic event, found a high rate of atrial fibrillation in these patients. NEW ORLEANS -- One patient in five with an unexplained stroke or transient ischemic attack ...
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Apixaban Works in Afib Even With Prior Stroke
MedPage Today
A prior history of stroke or TIA was not a rate-limiting factor in the demonstration that apixaban was superior to warfarin or aspirin in preventing stroke or systemic emboli in patients with atrial fibrillation. Note that apixaban also did not lead to ...
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Yoga may have positive effect on anxiety, depression, arrhythmia burden
Cardiology Today
BOSTON — Patients with atrial fibrillation who practice yoga appear to be less anxious and depressed and have an overall better quality of life, a speaker said at the 17th Annual Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium. “Emotional stress is very well ...
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New AF ablation consensus document previewed at symposium
Cardiology Today
BOSTON — Physicians who care for patients with atrial fibrillation can anticipate a soon-to-be-released international consensus document on catheter and surgical ablation techniques. The document, an update to the first AF consensus document released ...
UK facing a 'stroke epidemic'
UK Heart Patients Among the Most Under-Treated in Europe, Reveals Major New Report
2 December 2011, Shipston on Stour: Shocking results of the 2010 clinical audit of heart rhythm care were published today. Of the 17 European countries for which data were today published, only Ireland and Norway performed worse than the UK.
First for London as GP information goes online
AFA is calling for improved education and early detection of AF to reduce the burden and risks of Atrial Fibrillation, including suffering a debilitating or potentially deadly stroke.
AF patient qualifies to represent Great Britain in the European Triathlon Championships
Martin Harman, a 38 year old Atrial Fibrillation sufferer has qualified to represent Great Britain in the European Championships in Eilat, Israel on 19th April 2012.
To learn more visit Martin's page.
Doctors to check pulse of every patient to prevent 12000 strokes a year
Daily Mail
By Jenny Hope Charities have called for pulse checks to become a routine part of every GP visit, to help diagnose sufferers of atrial fibrillation. AF is the most common heart rhythm disturbance, affecting around 800000 Britons, and causes around one ...
New heart device to benefit local patients
Berwick Today
The clinicians have purchased heart rhythm recording equipment for each of the practices in north Northumberland. Alnwick GP Dr Graham Syers, who is based at the Bondgate Practice jointly leads the north locality Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) ...
Pioneers spot heart defects
Wiltshire Times
GREAT Western Ambulance Service is pioneering an initiative which diagnoses patients who have a heart defect. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart rhythm disorder that affects almost two per cent of the population, but many of them do not realise they ...
Wiltshire ambulance staff able to treat rare heart condition
Wiltshire Times
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that affects almost two per cent of the UK population – many of whom do not realise they have the condition. Patients in Swindon, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and the former Avon area, who dial 999 feeling ...
Patients with atrial fibrillation sought for study of novel alternative to open-chest surgery
Media Newswire (press release)
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine are seeking participants for a study examining the effectiveness of an experimental treatment for a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. (Media-Newswire.com) - Researchers at the ...
Study suggests excess of vitamin D can lead to atrial fibrillation
eMaxHealth
In the Intermountain study, researchers found patients whose levels were 100 nanograms/100ml/dl were two and a half times more likely to have atrial fibrillation than patients whose level was normal. The researchers studied blood work of 132000 ...
Professor Lip talks about treatment options for reducing the risk of stroke in AF patients.
UK Physicians may be undertreating AF
HemOncToday
The number of new strokes in the United Kingdom decreased by 30% from 1999 to 2008, but results of a new study show that the incidence of stroke could be further reduced if physicians treated patients with atrial fibrillation earlier. ...
1000 Strokes a year 'avoidable'
Telegraph.co.uk
Far too few patients with AF, one of the leading risk factors for stroke, are getting the treatment they need says Prof Martin Cowie.
GPs hail 'staggering' success of new access model
Pulse
An innovative new access model using GPs to triage patients over the telephone before they are booked an appointment can dramatically increase capacity at surgeries and ease pressures on A&E, a new study suggests.
Drugs given to high-risk heart patients in Scotland are 'unsuitable'
Spire Healthcare
Healthcare Improvement Scotland found that 53 per cent of patients with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of developing stroke were not and that lower-risk patients were being given powerful medication when aspirin would do. ...
New op to cure a dicky heartbeat - in a flash
Up to half a million Britons suffer from atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart-beat that can be life-threatening. Scott Rosser underwent a procedure to treat his irregular heartbeat.
Bayer’s Xarelto® (rivaroxaban) is set to become the first once-daily Factor Xa inhibitor for the prevention of stroke and non CNS systemic embolism in adult patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF)
Licence for use in the UK is expected before the end of 2011.
Pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate), the first new oral anticoagulant in over 50 years, has been accepted for use by the Scottish Medicines Consortium
AF is the most common heart rhythm condition in the UK, affecting 75,000 people in Scotland, and is a leading cause of stroke.
Bracknell, UK [Monday, 12th September] Pradaxa®, the first new oral anticoagulant in over 50 years licensed for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in adult patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) and one or more risk factors, has been accepted by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) for use within NHS Scotland.
FDA Panel Endorses Xarelto for Stroke Prevention
ABC News
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has voted 9-2, with one abstention, to recommend that the FDA approve the direct oral factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban (Xarelto) to prevent stroke in patients with a heart condition known as nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.
ARISTOTLE: A major win for apixaban in AF
Theheart.org
Paris, France (updated) - The full results of the ARISTOTLE trial have certainly lived up to expectations, showing convincing benefits of the new oral factor Xa inhibitor apixaban (Eliquis, Pfizer/Bristol-Myers Squibb) over warfarin in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients.
AF Highlighted in Times Supplement
Atrial fibrillation: ARISTOTLE reveals superiority of apixaban over warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation
Apixaban was not only found to be noninferior to warfarin in the prevention of stroke or systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and at least one ...
Anti-coagulation in the elderly
Studies suggest warfarin anticoagulation treatment may be underused for over 80s with atrial fibrillation.
Barry Manilow Urges Americans to "Get Back in Rhythm" and Learn About All the Health Risks of Atrial Fibrillation
MarketWatch (press release)
13, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Music icon Barry Manilow today revealed his long struggle to manage a serious heart disease called atrial fibrillation (AFib). He has joined with Sanofi US to kick-off Get Back in Rhythm(TM), a national education ...
Berwick says quality improvements are starting to show
CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick says that he is beginning to see some cases of health care improvements that boost quality and will lead to lower costs.
Green light for blood-thinning drug
Press Association
A new blood-thinning drug has been approved for use by the NHS in Scotland. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) said Pradaxa is a viable alternative to Warfarin for some patients. ..
AFA Calls for Urgent Action to Prevent Impending Stroke Crisis in Latin America
Medical and patient communities call on national policymakers in Latin America to take urgent action against preventable strokes that strike millions of people with atrial fibrillation (AF) each year.
Apixaban rides wave of praise
MedPage Today
In a nutshell, those results found that atrial fibrillation patients treated with apixaban, which is a direct factor Xa inhibitor, had fewer strokes or embolic events than warfarin-treated patients. Moreover, the patients taking apixaban had fewer ...
Warfarin anti-clotting drug may be safe for elderly
WebMD
The anti-clotting drug warfarin is safe and beneficial for people aged 80 and over, according to a new report. The new research has been welcomed by a UK atrial fibrillation charity which says this older group is often overlooked for anticoagulation treatment. ...
Don't be afraid: very old patients treated with Vitamin K antagonists, if adequately managed, benefit from anticoagulation
ESC
Results of the EPICA Study (Elderly Patients followed by Italian Centres for Anticoagulation Study), were presented at the ESC Congress 2011 today. This is the largest study on very old patients anticoagulated with Vitamin K antagonists for the prevention of venous thromboembolism and, for the major part (75%), for the prevention of stroke because
affected by atrial fibrillation...
How can we avoid a stroke crisis?
PCCJ Review
A report from a multidisciplinary alliance has made a compelling case for a coordinated plan in Europe to reduce the health, social and economic burdens of stroke related to atrial fibrillation (AF). The group comprises eminent cardiologists, neurologists, a health economists, hospital pharmacists, a haematologist and representatives from patient
organisations...
New technique to treat atrial fibrillation
ABC Health and Food
About 2.5 million Americans live with atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heartbeat condition that can raise the risk of stroke. Medications help, but often stop working after a while. Doctors now have a new technique to help get heartbeats back on track.
Management of atrial fibrillation by primary care physicians in Germany
Baseline results of the ATRIUM registry
NICE survey on improving public awareness and understanding of guidance
Review Of Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Announced By ESC
'The majority of people with AF have no idea they have it'
Irish Independent
Theresa had developed a stroke as a result of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm condition that is estimated to affect around 40000 Irish people although the figure is thought to be even higher. Dr Ronan Collins, consultant physician in ...
NATIONAL NEWS: Daily Mail
INR testing from home
A home test for patients taking the blood-thinning drug warfarin could release many from regular hospital-based checks and protect them further from the risk of stroke.
The Personal Touch campaign, launched by the Atrial Fibrillation Association, AntiCoagulation Europe and Roche, calls for more of the 1.2 million warfarin users to have access to self-monitoring, as it has been shown to cut the risk of death by nearly two-fifths and more than halve the risk of strokes. Warfarin patients who would like to self-monitor should talk to their healthcare professional. To find out more about patient self-monitoring and the CoaguChek XS meter, either call 0808 100 7666, visit www.coaguchek.co.uk or log on to CoaguChek Academy (new e-learning tool) at www.coaguchekacademy.com.
Common pain killers increase risk of atrial fibrillation
Pharmacy News
... associated with a significantly increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), new research shows. A Danish population-based study involving 32602 patients diagnosed with AF, plus matched controls, found the association was strongest for new users. ...
Experts urge GPs to consider warfarin for all AF patients over 75
Pulse
By Lilian Anekwe GPs should consider all patients over 75 for anticoagulation therapy because of the poor performance of NICE-approved tools for predicting stroke risk in older patients with atrial fibrillation, researchers conclude. ...
Would you test your child's genes to predict their future health?
Daily Mail
Probably the most alarming finding was that the biggest health risk for both Anthony and me is atrial fibrillation or irregular heartbeat, which usually comes with old age. This can cause blood clots and strokes. Anthony has a one in three chance of ...
Professor Roger Boyle knighted by Queen
BRITAIN’S heart star, Professor Roger Boyle, who is a former York consultant cardiologist, was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Like thousands, Catherine's dicky heartbeat caused her to have a stroke
Daily Mail
Tests revealed the reason: she had atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder which, left untreated, can cause a stroke. One in three sufferers will have one at some point. Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm problem, affecting around ...
Health chiefs issue appeal as figures are revealed on sufferers of irregular heartbeat
More than 500 people in the Bradford district are living with a potentially-fatal “ticking timebomb” which puts them at risk of a sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack or stroke.
MP Jim gets pulse checked at Westminster to test his heartbeat
East London Advertiser
Jim Fitzpatrick has had his pulse tested in a campaign for public awareness about Britain's most common heart rhythm disorder. To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below. The message will include the name and email ...
Dr Mark Porter ‘A simple lifesaver.
Checking your pulse takes only a minute but it could reveal potentially serious health problem’.
Japan Is First Country to Approve Daiichi Sankyo’s Direct Factor Xa Inhibitor
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Daiichi Sankyo received its first marketing approval for the once-daily oral anticoagulant Lixiana® (edoxaban tosilate hydrate), in Japan.
